Solace
by xperimental
Summary: Oneshot. Based on what could have happened in episode 4847, aka The Hand In The Sand Episode aka The One Where Everybody Treats Charlie Like Crap, if The Abomination hadn’t occurred and Joey was still around.


**Title: Solace  
Author: xperimental  
Rating: G  
Pairing: Charlie/Joey  
Disclaimer: Do I look like a crack monkey? No? Well, I obviously don't own them then.  
Summary: Quick oneshot based on what could have happened in episode 4847 (aka The Hand In The Sand Episode aka The One Where Everybody Treats Charlie Like Crap) if The Abomination hadn't occurred and Joey was still around.**

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Charlie needed to get out of the station, if she heard one more telephone ring she was going to throw it against a wall. She had entered the diner in search of caffeine to soothe her frazzled nerves but found something much, much better.

When she spotted Joey curled up, reading a magazine, on the couch by the counter, Charlie couldn't help but smile. She quickly made a beeline for her girlfriend, barely pausing to give Leah her coffee order along the way.

"Hey."

Joey looked up, grinning ear to ear, as she did whenever she caught sight of the older woman. "Hi."

"So I guess you've heard by now." Charlie flopped onto the couch next to Joey. She felt herself starting to relax just from being in Joey's presence. Nobody else had ever had that effect on her, not even Ruby.

"Oh yeah," said Joey, tossing the surfing magazine she'd been reading onto the coffee table. "According to Colleen, there's a forty foot long White Pointer that's been leaping out of the water and dragging people off the decks of passing cruise ships."

"Fantastic," Charlie sighed, massaging her throbbing temples. The last thing she needed was Colleen spreading her ridiculous gossip around whipping up even more of a frenzy.

"I don't know what everybody's freaking out about," Joey said, wishing that they weren't in such a public place so she could do more to comfort her stressed out girlfriend. "Is it really that much of a shock that there are sharks in the ocean? I see them all the time when I'm out on the boat."

Charlie lifted her head from her hands. "You do?" She'd been so worried about the fact that Joey was out on a boat full of men that she hadn't even thought about the threat of sharks.

"Yeah, they're always attacking the nets. And believe me, if there was anything big enough to eat a fully grown man and only leave a hand behind, I would've seen it by now."

"So you're not even the slightest bit worried?" Charlie marvelled at Joey's rather blasé attitude towards the whole thing, it was a welcome change to all the unfounded hysteria that she'd been dealing with all morning.

Joey made a face and shrugged. "Not really. I mean, even if there was a 'maneater'-" She rolled her eyes as she said the word. "- out there, it's probably moved on. Otherwise there would have been more attacks or at least sightings by now."

"Yeah, well I wish everyone else had the sense to see that."

"It's just typical small town hysteria. Hey, try to look on the bright side, at least they're not talking about us anymore," Joey said with a dorky grin.

She looked so cute that Charlie couldn't help but laugh for the first time since starting her shift that morning., "I guess that's something." After those awful first few days after they we're outed, things had slowly started to improve. Sure, a few people still giggled and sniggered about her behind her back but there'd been no more vandalism incidents and even that idiot Trey Palmer seemed to have moved on. Charlie was just glad that Ruby had found her drinking on the beach that night and had taken her home before she could do anything to screw up the best thing that had ever happened to her. Charlie didn't know how she'd cope with all this without Joey by her side.

"Hey," Joey said soothingly, her hand discreetly coming up behind Charlie's back to massage her girlfriend's stiff neck. "A couple of days and this will all blow over."

"Mmm," Charlie moaned in agreement, every ounce of tension in her body melting away under her lover's touch. Only for the shrill ring of her phone to send it all rushing back again. She growled and pulled the phone from her belt. Joey hoped that whoever was on the other end of the line was prepared to get their head bitten off. "Senior Constable Buckton," Charlie answered the phone crossly. "…Yeah, I'm on my way back. Look, I said I was coming, alright! I'll be there when I get there!"

Joey smiled sympathetically at Charlie as she aggressively ended the call. "So I'm guessing you're not going to be home for dinner."

"At this rate I'm going to be lucky to make it home before midnight," Charlie said, frowning. "So I guess I'll see you later?"

"Of course."

Charlie stared at Joey, obviously having an internal debate, before leaning in and kissing her on the lips. It probably wasn't the best idea to kiss Joey in public while wearing her uniform and being on duty, and she could hear Colleen muttering disapprovingly in the background but Charlie didn't care. She was having the day from hell and she wanted to kiss her girlfriend goodbye, goddamnit!

"Um, wow," Joey muttered as they parted, still a little dazed. She definitely hadn't been expecting that.

"Yeah." They had kissed in public and the sky hadn't fallen in. Charlie didn't know what she had been so worried about. "I should-" Charlie gestured with her head that she should be going but didn't make any attempt to leave.

"Get back to work. I know."

"Right," Charlie uttered softly, too caught up in Joey's smile to do anything else. She only snapped out of it when her phone started to ring again. Shaking her head, Charlie gave Joey's knee an affection squeeze and stood. "Bye," she said, looking away before she got caught up in staring again and put the phone to her ear as she collected the coffee that Leah was holding out for her. "What?" she snapped into the phone, on her way out of the diner. "I said that I was coming!"

There were some days when Charlie really hated her job.

**END**


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